Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £175, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 6 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
6 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 347 338 291
Rank change year-on-year -9 -47 +20
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 258 219 354
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 0.61% 0.78%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.78% 0.66% 0.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 171 141 256
10th Percentile £150 £143 £131
25th Percentile £155 £174 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £175 £215 £200
Median % change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% -
75th Percentile £238 £240 £238
90th Percentile £278 £269 £325
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £215 £200
% change year-on-year -18.60% +7.50% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 20 17
10th Percentile £14.65 £22.50 £16.97
25th Percentile £16.48 £23.76 £18.00
Median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.54% +24.00% +8.33%
75th Percentile £21.46 £30.17 £20.00
90th Percentile £31.40 £32.95 £22.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.18 £24.18 £19.50
% change year-on-year -16.54% +24.00% +11.43%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 33,145 33,385 42,274
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.77% 93.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,040 20,359 28,495
10th Percentile £285 £300 £294
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £645
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,927 1,147 1,515
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.36 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.88 £20.75 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.90
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.27% +39.88%
75th Percentile £57.25 £63.93 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +78.00%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 6 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 6 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 6 December 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +14 231 £190 -13.24% 61
UK excluding London -19 176 £175 -18.60% 54
London +5 74 £193 -10.47% 13
North of England -31 44 £175 -20.45% 13
South West +7 35 £250 +11.11% 15
South East -12 30 £173 -19.53% 8
Midlands -19 29 £171 -11.05% 7
East of England -4 24 £220 +4.76% 11
North West -18 22 £190 -8.98% 13
East Midlands -4 16 £158 -42.73% 4
West Midlands -20 13 £175 +0.29% 3
North East +6 12 £175 -
Wales +7 11 £160 -27.27% 1
Yorkshire -34 10 £165 -26.67%
Scotland -5 6 £130 -7.14%
Work from Home -15 4 £191 -21.13% 14
Northern Ireland -9 3 £200 +29.03%

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 6 December 2025, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 147 (56.98%) Windows
2 112 (43.41%) Microsoft 365
3 106 (41.09%) Microsoft
4 95 (36.82%) Customer Service
5 92 (35.66%) Security Cleared
6 91 (35.27%) SC Cleared
7 90 (34.88%) Active Directory
8 77 (29.84%) Windows 10
9 61 (23.64%) Microsoft Office
10 59 (22.87%) ITIL
11 42 (16.28%) Mac OS
11 42 (16.28%) SAP
12 41 (15.89%) Business Intelligence
12 41 (15.89%) Digital Marketing
12 41 (15.89%) Programme Management
13 39 (15.12%) Android
14 37 (14.34%) Cisco
14 37 (14.34%) Microsoft Exchange
14 37 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
15 33 (12.79%) Azure
16 32 (12.40%) Microsoft Intune
16 32 (12.40%) Service Management
16 32 (12.40%) SLA
17 30 (11.63%) Dell
17 30 (11.63%) HP
17 30 (11.63%) SCCM
17 30 (11.63%) Service Delivery
17 30 (11.63%) Wireless
18 29 (11.24%) ServiceNow
19 27 (10.47%) Apple

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 37 (14.34%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (8.91%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.39%) Exchange Server 2010
3 1 (0.39%) HCL Notes
Applications
1 61 (23.64%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (7.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (4.65%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.39%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.78%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.39%) assyst
2 1 (0.39%) Eikon
2 1 (0.39%) Eze OMS
2 1 (0.39%) Fidessa
Cloud Services
1 112 (43.41%) Microsoft 365
2 33 (12.79%) Azure
3 16 (6.20%) OneDrive
4 7 (2.71%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 30 (11.63%) Wireless
2 20 (7.75%) VPN
3 13 (5.04%) PABX
4 12 (4.65%) DNS
5 11 (4.26%) DHCP
6 9 (3.49%) Skype
7 8 (3.10%) Cisco IOS
8 6 (2.33%) TCP/IP
9 5 (1.94%) Structured Cabling
10 4 (1.55%) LAN
10 4 (1.55%) Remote Desktop
11 3 (1.16%) Firewall
11 3 (1.16%) VLAN
11 3 (1.16%) WAN
12 2 (0.78%) Softphone
12 2 (0.78%) Wi-Fi
12 2 (0.78%) WLAN
13 1 (0.39%) IP Telephony
13 1 (0.39%) RFID
13 1 (0.39%) Telepresence
Development Applications
1 1 (0.39%) JIRA
General
1 131 (50.78%) Social Skills
2 85 (32.95%) Finance
3 50 (19.38%) Public Sector
4 43 (16.67%) Telecoms
5 42 (16.28%) Manufacturing
6 41 (15.89%) Electronics
6 41 (15.89%) Marketing
7 32 (12.40%) Analytical Skills
8 15 (5.81%) Banking
9 9 (3.49%) Front Office
9 9 (3.49%) Retail
10 6 (2.33%) Aerospace
10 6 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.55%) Investment Banking
11 4 (1.55%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.16%) Law
13 2 (0.78%) Legal
14 1 (0.39%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.39%) Retail Banking
Miscellaneous
1 29 (11.24%) Self-Motivation
2 25 (9.69%) Data Centre
3 19 (7.36%) Smartphone
4 14 (5.43%) iPad
4 14 (5.43%) iPhone
5 11 (4.26%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.88%) Mobile App
7 8 (3.10%) Driving Licence
7 8 (3.10%) Management Information System
8 7 (2.71%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (1.94%) Hedge funds
10 3 (1.16%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.78%) CMDB
11 2 (0.78%) Tandem
12 1 (0.39%) Blackberry
12 1 (0.39%) Data Protection Act
12 1 (0.39%) Enterprise Software
12 1 (0.39%) Fat Client
12 1 (0.39%) Hybrid Cloud
12 1 (0.39%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 147 (56.98%) Windows
2 77 (29.84%) Windows 10
3 42 (16.28%) Mac OS
4 39 (15.12%) Android
5 14 (5.43%) Apple iOS
6 12 (4.65%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.78%) Windows Server 2012
8 1 (0.39%) Linux
8 1 (0.39%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (36.82%) Customer Service
2 59 (22.87%) ITIL
3 41 (15.89%) Business Intelligence
3 41 (15.89%) Digital Marketing
3 41 (15.89%) Programme Management
4 37 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
5 32 (12.40%) Service Management
6 30 (11.63%) Service Delivery
7 27 (10.47%) Time Management
7 27 (10.47%) Workflow
8 26 (10.08%) ITSM
8 26 (10.08%) Migration
9 22 (8.53%) Inventory Management
10 19 (7.36%) Patch Management
11 18 (6.98%) Workflow Management
12 15 (5.81%) Incident Management
12 15 (5.81%) Mobile Device Management
13 13 (5.04%) Antivirus Management
13 13 (5.04%) Logistics
14 11 (4.26%) Ticket Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (6.59%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 92 (35.66%) Security Cleared
2 91 (35.27%) SC Cleared
3 20 (7.75%) Degree
4 17 (6.59%) ITIL Certification
5 11 (4.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.55%) DBS Check
7 3 (1.16%) A+ Certification
7 3 (1.16%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.39%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.39%) Dell Certification
8 1 (0.39%) MCP
8 1 (0.39%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (12.40%) SLA
2 10 (3.88%) QA
3 7 (2.71%) GDPR
4 1 (0.39%) COBIT
System Software
1 90 (34.88%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.43%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.94%) BitLocker
4 4 (1.55%) Firmware
5 1 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.39%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.39%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.39%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 32 (12.40%) Microsoft Intune
2 30 (11.63%) SCCM
Vendors
1 106 (41.09%) Microsoft
2 42 (16.28%) SAP
3 37 (14.34%) Cisco
4 30 (11.63%) Dell
4 30 (11.63%) HP
5 29 (11.24%) ServiceNow
6 27 (10.47%) Apple
7 10 (3.88%) McAfee
8 8 (3.10%) Bloomberg
9 7 (2.71%) Starlink
10 5 (1.94%) Remedy
11 3 (1.16%) Citrix
11 3 (1.16%) VMware
12 2 (0.78%) Reuters
13 1 (0.39%) Altiris
13 1 (0.39%) Lotus
13 1 (0.39%) Oracle
13 1 (0.39%) Tradeweb
13 1 (0.39%) Trayport
13 1 (0.39%) Wyse
62 Desktop Support jobs Nationwide